Lucy Hood, Innovative TV Executive, Dies at 56

Lucy Hood led the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.CreditChristopher Polk/Getty Images

Lucy Hood, a television industry executive who made audience participation a staple in American living rooms when she introduced text voting to “American Idol,” the Fox megahit singing contest, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 56.

The cause was cancer, said her husband, Rob Biniaz.

Ms. Hood, who since last June was president and chief operating officer of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, was known for her efforts to expand the purview of television beyond, well, television.

In addition to her contribution to “American Idol,” as president of Fox Mobile Entertainment she led the team that created “24: Conspiracy,” an early series of so-called mobisodes — tidbit-length episodes of televisionesque tales for cellphones — which fed the hunger of fans of the popular Fox drama “24,” as well as other innovative advertising vehicles for Fox shows, including “Bones,” “Prison Break” and the reality series “The Simple Life,” with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

At the Television Academy, which presents the Emmy Awards, Ms. Hood was responsible for expanding business partnerships and digital initiatives. She recently announced a capital campaign to enhance the academy’s campus in North Hollywood and create an endowment for its foundation, which among other things administers the Archive of American Television, a collection of video interviews with influential figures in television history. She was previously head of the Institute for Communication Technology Management at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

Lucille Anne Hood was born in Manhattan on Jan. 27, 1958, and grew up there and in suburban New Jersey, where she attended Millburn High School. Her father, John, worked on Wall Street; her mother, Anne, was a homemaker and, later, a computer programmer. Lucy studied English and theater at Yale and earned an M.B.A. from Columbia.

At News Corporation, which owned the Fox network before the company was divided, Ms. Hood worked in the pay television, cable and syndication departments and eventually became senior vice president for content. Before joining News Corporation she was an executive at Paramount Pictures and a producer of “Business Times,” an ESPN news program.

In addition to her husband, whom she married in 1990, Ms. Hood is survived by her parents; a son, Ben; a daughter, Rachel; two sisters, Sarah and Katherine Hood; and a brother, John.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Lucy Hood, 56, an Innovative TV Executive. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe